Inheritance System in Lithuania after the Abolition of Serfdom in 1861
Inheritance System in Lithuania after the Abolition of Serfdom in 1861

Summary/Abstract: In the nineteenth Century in Lithuania, otherwise speaking in the Northwestern province of Tsarist Russia, the transfer of a dowry “from hand to hand” did not entitle a husband or wife to use the money at his or her own discretion. Marriage, based on this alone, was not a way to achieve individual profit. Unhindered land-money circulation required all children's submission to the obligation of marriage. If a child were to choose to remain single, his/her family would be deprived of a dowry, and therefore other siblings would possibly be prevented from making good matches. Adherence to birth sequence was strictly followed when siblings married, and those who deviated from the norm were slandered and remembered for a long time. Juozas O. Sirvydas wrote in his autobiography: “My mother was the middle child among three sisters, but she got married the last. At that time it was unusual because farmers always tried to give their daughters in marriage starting from the eldest and ending with the youngest”. The inevitability and birth-order sequencing of marriage ensured full healthy land-money circulation. The incitement among Lithuanian youth “to wait for your turn” was a natural attempt to coordinate land-money exchanges in the families of both the bride and groom. Traditional system of inheritance determined late marriage as a norm in the XIXth Century Lithuanian community. According to Catholic marriage registers through 1835-1865, the average age for marriage for men women was 25,1 and for men 29,9. Accordingly for the period 1875-1915 it was respectively 25,8 and 33,0. The paper will discuss over the question: Where shell we place Lithuanian case (according to the Line)?

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